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Issue: Vol. 4403 No. 1: 3 Apr. 2018
Type: Article
Published: 2018-04-03
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4403.1.3
Page range: 61–86
Abstract views: 182
PDF downloaded: 3

Phylogenetic and morphological resolution of the Helobdella stagnalis species-complex (Annelida: Clitellata: Hirudinea)

Dept. of Aquaculture and Fish Diseases, Fisheries Faculty, Firat University, 23119 Elazig, Turkey
Institute of Biology, University of Kassel, 34132 Kassel, Heinrich-Plett Str. 40, Germany
Biology Department, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 315 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA
Biology Department, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 315 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA
Biology Department, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 315 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA
Biology Department, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 315 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA
Annelida leech Hirudinea scute COI

Abstract

The glossiphoniid freshwater leech, Helobdella stagnalis, was described by Linnaeus 1758 based on common European specimens. The presence of a brown, chitinous scute on the dorsal-anterior surface, as observed on leeches elsewhere in the world, has generally led to the classification of all scute-bearing members of the genus as H. stagnalis. Here we describe the morphology and behavior of the type species from Europe, and analyze H. stagnalis-like specimens collected worldwide. We present evidence for at least four distinct scute-bearing Helobdella species that can be morphologically resolved. Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Bayesian Inference (BI) analyses at the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) locus further supported this notion, with divergence values suggesting a mid-Miocene ancestor of this successful group of cosmopolitan hirudineans. New species, Helobdella echoensis nov. sp., Helobdella eriensis nov. sp., and Helobdella serendipitious nov. sp., are described, based on morphological, anatomical and molecular data. Current distribution patterns of Helobdella spp. suggest a robust, global dispersal mechanism, as well as local pockets of endemism.

 

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